We said this before the season and we said it before the start of the playoffs — the fate of the Clippers really hinged on two things:

1) Playing good defense (they allowed the Grizzlies more than 100 points In Game 5 and had a defensive rating of 111.3).

2) DeAndre Jordan needed to play big for them.

With Blake Griffin hobbled by injury Los Angeles especially needed Jordan on Tuesday night and he had a very pedestrian night — 6 points on 3-of-7 shooting and 8 rebounds in 31 minutes. And that line doesn’t address his defensive struggles against the Grizzlies bigs. Now the Clippers are down 3-2 in the best of seven and have to win Game 6 on the road.

“I don’t know if crossroads is the right (word) but there’s definitely a level you have to play at right now that is much different,” Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro said. “He has a much different responsibility now. He understands it. I haven’t seen the consistency that I like. He hasn’t seen the consistency he would like….

“I didn’t see him controlling the game the way I thought he needed to, and at that stage you have to go with someone you feel can,” Del Negro said….

“Defensively, offensively, being a threat out there on the glass, using his length, athleticism,” Del Negro said. “But it’s up to him to get out there and earn his minutes and work through anything that’s thrown at him during the game.”

Now for some context. First, Del Negro’s job is on the line here, he doesn’t have a contract past the end of this season and if the Clippers are bounced the odds he gets a new contract drop. Ultimately, a nod from Chris Paul either way could decide Del Negro’s fate, but you know a competitive guy like CP3 is going to be frustrated.

Also remember at the trade deadline when there was a lot of “the Clippers would trade DeAndre Jordan for Kevin Garnett” talk? That was pushed by Del Negro talking to Danny Ainge, not the rest of the Clippers front office. The guys upstairs in the suits had no interest in moving Jordan (and the Celtics were not likely to make that deal anyway). But that created friction between Del Negro and the front office, and this little show is tied to that.

Just remember that as the fate of Del Negro is decided in the coming weeks. Unless Jordan has a monster game in Memphis for Game 6 and keeps his team alive.

In fact, in Saturday’s dunk contest, he didn’t look like a dunker at all.

The Pacers star missed all three attempts of his first dunk, and a Black Panther mask was by far the biggest draw of his second. Oladipo was eliminated after the first round.

Maybe Dennis Smith Jr. wasn’t the only eliminated dunker who left something in his bag. This Oladipo dunk – 180 degrees, throwing ball off the backboard with his left hand while in mid-air, dunking with his right hand – while preparing in Los Angeles was awesome.

A statement released Wednesday by the NFL and NBA clubs says their 90-year-old owner is resting comfortably at Ochsner Medical Center, a hospital which also serves as a major sponsor and which owns naming rights to the teams’ training headquarters.

Benson has owned the New Orleans Saints since 1985 and bought the New Orleans Pelicans in 2012.

In recent years, Benson has overhauled his estate plan so that his third wife, Gayle, would be first in line to inherit control of the two major professional franchises.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said he’d be surprised if Kawhi Leonard played again this season, a stark reversal from just a month ago. Back then, even while announcing Leonard was out indefinitely with a quad injury, the San Antonio coach said Leonard wouldn’t miss the rest of the season.

After spending 10 days before the All-Star break in New York consulting with a specialist to gather a second opinion on his right quad injury, All-NBA forward Kawhi Leonard bears the burden of determining when he’s prepared to play again, sources told ESPN.

Leonard has been medically cleared to return from the right quad tendinopathy injury, but since shutting down a nine-game return to the Spurs that ended Jan. 13, he has elected against returning to the active roster, sources said.

The uncertainty surrounding this season — and Leonard’s future which could include free agency in the summer of 2019 — has inspired a palpable stress around the organization, league sources said.

At first glance, this sounds like Derrick Rose five years ago. Even after he was cleared to play following a torn ACL, the then-Bulls star remained mysterious about when he’d suit up. His confidence in his physical abilities seemed to be a major issue, and he was never the same player since (suffering more leg injuries).

But the Spurs famously favor resting players to preserve long-term health. They seem unlikely to rush back Leonard. They might even sit players who want to play more often. And Leonard isn’t Rose.

Still, it’s clear something is amiss in San Antonio. Maybe not amiss enough to end Leonard’s tenure there, but the longer this lingers, the more time for tension to percolate.